My players asked me if there is any chance for their characters to become lords of their own lands, barons, counts, dukes or even kings. They just got their hands on Book of Battle and keep asking me if there will be a day they'll lead the battle.

As far as I know, you need 4 requisites to be titled:
- Enough land (manors)
- Enough knights in your service
- Enough income
- A higher and capable authority willing to grant you the title

Land:
As far as I know, most nobles won't give you (a simple knight) land, even if you save their lives fighting against all odds. They would give you gifts or land gifts for your the duration of your life. This kind of land would not help you to accomplish the Land Requirement. What kind of deeds should you accomplish in order for your lord to give you land (not as a gift)?
I read in KAP 5.1 that some lords (other than your primary liege) may eventually grant you land. In which conditions? Could the king give you lands?
If your character, in his own time, leaded a battle against invaders on a british country, could he keep the land or they would revert to his king, liege or former owners (if any)?
If a character invades a hostile offshore land with his own knightly resources, could he keep it or they would revert to his king, liege, ...?
Also, one of my players have a few manors located far apart from his main manor. He asked me if would it be possible to trade his distant lands for the ones of his neighbors (paying some librum to his neighbor and his lord for the transference).

Knights in service:
Becoming a banneret is hard. You not only have to own quite a few manors and dispose half of them to get some knights in your service, but also you need your lord to title you a banneret, which is even harder than meeting those requirements. As I understand, a titled noble will have 3 knight for each 5 manors he owns, is that correct? (Not sure here, the exact numbers for each title are in the book). Having a army of knights is kinda cool, but most players will often want to be escorted by their vassal knights most of the time. I believe this would hurt the game greatly. After a Knight has more than a few knights the game will more often than not turn into a wargame with a court phase, isn't that right? How you menage to avoid this, since no sensate lord would go out and adventure when there is so much to lose?

Income:
As I understand, you have to ask permission to your king and to your lord in order to build the most awesome buildings in the game, right? If you want to have that awesome castle you will have a hard time convincing your lord you mean no harm. You also need permission if you want to raise an army, meaning training peasants and making weapons. You need permission to have a forge capable of equipping your army, and all other things that would make your lord feel threatened. And also, any lord that notices you have too much spare income would gladly stay a few months in your house to hurt your finances. How can you hit the requirements to the title you aspire if they are completely reluctant to allow you to even try to build it?

Be Granted the title:
Here is the hardest one. When would a Lord grant you a title? Supposing you somehow meet the requirements (and is not dead because of it) what would take in order to be granted the title of Baron, Count, Duke, or even King?
Could a knight conquer a new land by his own means and name himself it's king?

So. The main question is: what does it takes to be granted land and titles, and how could my PKs accomplish that?

- Also english obviously is not my primary language, so if I did not made myself clear please ask me to clarify :)

1. Do something really great for the King

2. After King Arthur is reigning, marry the heiress of one of the many smaller kingdoms

3. If you can accumulate enough land through favors, conquests, and marrying well the king of Logres will make you a baron.
How much?
£100 per year, minimum

But can you tell me the kind of favor or a deed great enough for they grant you land (not a gift of land) or income? This is the part I can't figure out exactly.
Also, in conquering lands of saxons or other foreign people doing it by oneself (personal army), who gets the new lands?

Guys you could look up would include William Marshall, William de la Pole and Charles Brandon. They each became titled by different routes.

They just got their hands on Book of Battle and keep asking me if there will be a day they'll lead the battle.


The Roman War is another 'good' opportunity to get titles on the mainland, especially if your PKs are by that time veterans of the Arthurian wars and part of the Round Table (have to survive Badon, though). Those titles might be a bit hollow once Arthur returns to Logres, though.

However, if all they want is to lead in a battle, then Anarchy is a good spot as well. The Countess will need a marshal to lead the knights of Salisbury in battle, and who better than a trusted sir PK, who already has a decade of battle experience in him, with all the more senior knights having been poisoned at St. Albans.

I would go with Morien on this one. If it is leading a battle they want there are other options instead of holding land. Becoming marshall is of course the quickest route. Also in situation where the lord is not present (away on battle and the PKs are on patrol inside the county) and a large force of Saxons arrive they can be the ones mustering the people into an army.

As for the various titles there are a view small 'kingdoms' in Cambria, Cumbria and the north. They are very isolated and small. Some of them only as large as a county. In the rules they are called Pennath, but they can style themselves anyway they like, including king. These could even be conquered.

When to grant land? I think it depends on your relation with your lord, his relation with others within his county and thirdly the deed that has been done. There are so many factors. A lord with a love(wife) of 20 or more could grant you land just for saving his wife from raiders. Or maybe the lord is a friend of the PK and another banneret is getting too much power and the lord wants to even the odds. Maybe he even is aware of your battle prowess and needs someone to defend his home.
As a rule it should not be easy and could mean the PK have to go through many great deeds before the lord sees them as possible allies. And they have to show their loyalty through many events.

In my old game, my players 'easily' gained manor grants (with knightly service) in other kingdoms, after they performed any heroic deed for the lord [certainly when some other local knights had been killed earlier trying to solve the problem]. But only after they were already famous, rich and powerfu :)
Reasoning from the lord: If a PC already has a few manors the PC has a small army at his disposal. The PC also is a huge fighting machine, willing to handle dragons single-handedly. By giving him a grant you bind this person and his small army to yourself. As long as the lord is not planning to attack the PC lord there is no conflict of interest.
It actually worked out like this in the game, as these new lords would call upon the PC for aid (which they were then bound to provide). And a PC always provided more aid then a single manor was worth...
[I compare it with all those honorary doctorates universities hand out to famous people]
Power creates power.

fg,
Thijs

But can you tell me the kind of favor or a deed great enough for they grant you land (not a gift of land) or income? This is the part I can't figure out exactly.

I'm compiling a list of these sorts of things for Book of Uther, upcoming when it's finished
It isn't very long
What is most likely for the king to do is to owe the knight a favor for doing something, which can be redeemed some time by the knight asking for a favor in return
This could be for land, if it was a big favor:
Saving his life
Saving the life of someone in his family
Ridding him of some personal enemy


Also, in conquering lands of saxons or other foreign people doing it by oneself (personal army), who gets the new lands?

The conqueror gets it
but if he is smart he will give it to a higher-up nobleman--his liege or the king--or he's in danger of being conquered himself and losing everything